Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: CPNC and Patents

> It makes claims almost as outrageous as Hurco, implying a vast
> conspiracy!

What conspiracy? It's front and center in the USPTO's press releases.
The USPTO has been reorganized to run as a business. Its tax funding
has been reduced to only partially cover its budget, and a profit
motive established to encourage serving its customers. The USPTO
views its customers as the patent applicants who pay them filing fees,
not the general public concerned with the progress of science and the
useful arts.

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http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/intro.html

[...]

The PTO has evolved into a unique government agency. Since 1991--
under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1990-- the PTO
has operated in much the same way as a private business, providing
valued products and services to our customers in exchange for fees
which are used to fully fund our operations. The primary services we
provide include processing patents and trademarks and disseminating
patent and trademark information.

[...]

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http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/annual/1998/a98r-2.htm#Topic15

[...]

Performance

The mission of the patent business area is to help our customers get
patents; its performance goal is to grant patents to inventors for
their discoveries. These were established to help us direct our
efforts toward providing our customers with high-quality service, one
of the PTO's two strategic goals.

[...]

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http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/speeches/00-21.htm

PRESS RELEASE #00-21 CONTACT: Richard Maulsby
March 29, 2000 Maria Victoria
Hernandez
703-305-8341

PTO BECOMES PERFORMANCE-BASED ORGANIZATION

Today, the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) becomes the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a Performance-Based Organization (PBO).
The new status results from the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999,
which reformed the U.S. patent system in a number of ways.

The PBO is a concept created in March 1996 by Vice President Al Gore and the
National Partnership for Reinventing Government. In fact, the USPTO will now
be only the second federal agency in history to be a PBO, after the
Education Department's Office of Student Financial Assistance. A PBO is a
results-driven organization that delivers the best possible services to its
customers. A PBO also commits to accountability for results by having clear
objectives, specific measurable goals, customer service standards and
targets for improved performance. In exchange for this commitment to
accountability, a PBO is granted managerial flexibilities to achieve these
goals and operate more like a business with greater autonomy over its
budget, hiring, and procurement.

The USPTO's new status will be celebrated this Monday, April 3, 2000, at a
ceremony in front of the main headquarters building at 2121 Crystal Drive,
Arlington, Va. The program will begin at 10:30 a.m.

"As a PBO, the United States Patent and Trademark Office moves to the
forefront of reinventing the federal government by becoming a results-driven
organization with a renewed focus on customer service," says Q. Todd
Dickinson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks. "Having sufficient resources to operate effectively in this new
environment," he continued, "is now more important than ever."

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